My wife, Zina Deretsky, won the Luce Scholarship to Asia for the 2002-3 Academic year. We lived in Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia from Autust of '02 until July of '03. We did a slew of unique and interesting things. Among them were the Plant Calendar, and the Three Perspectives on Botany & Medicine show.

The show was well-received, and featured the work of our friend, Tsatsa Saransatsaralt, one of the artists at the fore-front of the Mongolian art community, the talented Ms. Deretsky, and myself. The show came right at the end of our stay, which created a lot of scheduling pressure and a whopping dose of chaos.

The show was presented at the Union of Mongolian Artists, of which Tsatsa is a member. We hung the show in only a few hours before the opening, and it was up for just 3 days. We were interviewed by reporters from newspaper, radio and television, which was quite a thrill. It was my 15 minutes.

Most of my plant pieces were conceived as a series: square format, saturated color, highly graphic style. The medical pieces were more difficult for me. I had to view them as an editorial assignment, and I feel that while the botanical pieces are more numerous and beautiful, the medical pieces are thought-provoking and more impactful.

Thumbnails are below the announcement, which you can see in more detail in the design section.